Romantic Gardens

Invite Romance into Your Garden

Imagine a sun drenched courtyard, paved in ancient stone worn by years of daily use, interwoven with thyme, scented by wafts of lavender and roses, dappled by the shade of gnarled fruit trees and grapevines.

Picture a vine covered twig gazebo with the vows of a rustic country wedding being spoken; these are the images that capture the sense of romantic gardens with that quality of age, timelessness and weathered beauty.

How can you have a romantic garden? It may seem difficult to achieve, especially in a young garden.

First you must define what is romantic to you.

Is it the quiet murmur of water, the cheeping and twittering of birds, the quiet gong of the wind in the wind chimes?

Every romantic garden should have a water feature, whether a classic fountain or a rustic pond, with water lilies and rushes at the edge.

Nest boxes made of barnboard will attract many garden birds and evil spirits will flee from the sound of the brass bells hung on eaves.

You can easily add those simple components to your garden.

What triggers that romantic mood in a garden? Is it the bright colours of a wildflower meadow? or a grassy savanna, soft beige grasses bending in the wind?

It could be the image of a lazy summer day spent lounging in a comfortable chaise with a good gardening book, in a shady gazebo or porch.

Maybe it’s a profusion of terracotta pots overflowing with succulent plants, or vines growing up obelisks of twigs that are your romantic ideal.

All romantic gardens have the appeal of never quite revealing all at one glance, using the mysterious as a lure to explore further.

Imagine groundcovers such as thyme or small Sedum softening the hard lines of paving stones, and draping over the stone walls of a rustic ruin or folly to give a romantic air to the vista.

Moss and lichen cloaking a stone statue, or ferns in a grotto with the sound of dripping water can send shivers down your spine.

Anything that makes you sigh in wonder at the beauty of the scene and want to capture it forever in a painting is your ideal of romanticism.

Whatever it is that you have in your minds eye that defines romantic, infuse your garden with the spirit of romanticism and age.

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